Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska reunite for ‘Crimson Peak’

Having seen her first ghost at 10, she’s attuned to spirits and receptive to their messages.

Crimson Peak is in cinemas worldwide now. The amusing thing is, the ghosts are the weakest point of this outlandish, wildly uneven horror picture.

Guillermo del Toro’s career is largely split between Hollywood blockbusters like Pacific Rim and his more independent (and interesting) works – films like The Devil’s Backbone and the Oscar-winning Pan’s Labyrinth. He hits paydirt with the virginial Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska). She’s about to do a few lurid research. Years later, Edith finds herself swept off her feet by the handsome, mysterious and charming Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston). She plays Thomas’ deranged sister Lucille with such menace and intensity that you can’t take your eyes off her. There’s an intricate web of relationships going on, also including Jessica Chastain and Charlie Hunnam, and action in New York and the wilds of Cumbria. Luckily, del Toro is smart enough to not end the film on her finishing a novel. The primary setting is a withered mansion in the English hills that has “a life of its own”, with leaves falling through its high, cracked ceilings and thick red clay seeping through its walls (hence the film’s title). But it certainly photographs well.

This is the setting for the film the Crimson Peak. It’s possible del Toro was trying to say something with these choices, but it’s also possible they simply looked cool. Then, I saw it again and realized I was more in love with the CGI than the story or characters. It is insane and fun at times, but basically hollow. The past feels so alive here because these all feel like locations that del Toro has inhabited for long periods of time in his mind. They are surprisingly standard-issue, computer-generated and wispy, with wisps of evil rising from them. We had the chance to chat with del Toro and the Crimson Peak cast, including Hiddleston, Wasikowska, and Jessica Chastain, the latter of whom gives a barn burner of a performance as the psychotic Lady Lucille Sharpe.

The film’s setting itself adds to the overall atmosphere and the house is like a character within itself. Hiddleston’s role was originally set for Benedict Cumberbatch but when he stepped down, del Toro worked with Hiddleston to make the part more suited to him, and he could not have been a better villain. Like most ghost stories, the house becomes a character, and is an awesome set piece.